Kent—
Hybrid cars are a common sight on the road, especially in the Northwest. In cases of a crash, the electric battery vehicles have to be handled much differently than a normal car, especially when the accident is life threatening.Under the hood, the high voltage cars can be hazardous. Matt Stroud with MGS Tech Innovation Technologies of Seattle trains firefighters in how to handle hybrids at crash scenes. He teaches rescuers how to properly disable the electric battery and turn off the HID headlight system.
"The biggest problem is the hesitation on the approach and not being aware of how the technology works. All of the fire departments have the same problem being the lack of knowledge and the lack of instruction and teaching about the technology," says Stroud.
Part of the training is also clearing up some myths. Like if a car goes into water it electrifies the water around it, or if a car caught on fire, rescuers would be electrocuted if using a hose to put out the flames.
Considering Kent firefighters respond to thousands of accidents a year, having this training under their belts couldn't have come at a better time.
"There are a lot of real dangers with hybrids, but we now know how to deal with them and have a much better understanding of the technology," says Capt. Kyle Ohashi.
Stroud trains firefighters all over the country. In our area, he has worked with the Seattle, Everett, Tacoma and Puyallup Fire Departments. For more information on his training, go to www.mgstech.net.
